Welsh Conservatives said figures revealed average wait of those waiting for a hip replacement was more than half in Wales

Welsh patients waiting for a hip replacement operation are waiting more than twice as long as English counterparts, it has been claimed.

Waiting times for Welsh patients needing a hip replacements have spiralled by an average of two months over a three-year period – with the average wait now just under six months, Health Minister Mark Drakeford confirmed, saying there was an average wait in 2012 of 169 days for a patient awaiting a hip replacement, compared to just 108 days in 2009, when it contended with 555 less operations.

That was after a slight improvement on 2011, which saw a high of 178 days average wait – just under six months. However, it is also more than a month longer than 2008-2009, when there was a similar amount of operations conducted.

Mr Drakeford also confirmed the average cost of a hip replacement cost the NHS an average of £7,437 in 2012-2013 – up from £7,186 the previous year.

The Welsh Government said the way treatment targets were measured were different and could not be compared on a like-for-like basis.

But the Welsh Conservatives said figures confirmed by the Department for Health in Westminster confirmed the average waiting time amounted to more than twice the time experienced by English patients for hip operations – with an average waiting time for hip replacement in England in 2012 of 78 days.

“More and more people are getting in touch with me who are desperate for these operations,” said MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire Simon Hart.

“One lady from Pembrokeshire who wrote to me had worked in the NHS for 40 years before retiring. She has been told she will have to wait between 12-18 months for a new hip, whereas family in the Midlands can expect to have the operation in just 2 to 3 months. She is only 57 and is in so much pain that she has decided to spend £9,000 of her NHS pension on having the treatment privately. I can see why people in Wales are so upset at receiving such second-class treatment.”

Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister Darren Millar also hit out at the increase in waits for those waiting for an NHS-funded operation, calling for an apology from the Welsh Government for the “backlog they’ve created”.

“Patients waiting for hip operations will often be elderly, vulnerable, and in tremendous amounts of pain,” he said.

“It simply isn’t fair or just to make anyone wait this long and Carwyn Jones and Welsh Labour should apologise to everyone stuck in the backlog they’ve created.

“Despite a similar amount of people waiting – average delays for hip operations are far longer than they were five years ago. That’s unfair and unacceptable.”

First Minister Carwyn Jones has previously hit out at the way waiting times were calculated in England compared to Wales, saying the time at which the “clock was started” was often later in England.

Welsh officials also take account of specified therapy services, while officials argue England focuses on so-called “closed pathways” (patients that have been seen), while Wales focuses on open pathways, which can include patients still on a waiting list.

A Welsh Government spokeswoman said the list cannot be compared on a like-for-like basis.

She added: “As people in Wales live longer, there is an increase in demand for orthopaedic surgery such as hip replacements.

“In recognition of this, we have invested £65m in orthopaedic services over the last three years and the majority of health boards have now introduced long term solutions to improve services.

“While the majority of patients are seen within 26 weeks, we have challenged health boards to focus on clearing the longest waits, and hope to see these come down in the coming months.”

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